Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

September 8, 2016September 8, 2016

Red Rock West (1994)

Mistaken for a hired killer, drifter Nicolas Cage is offered $5,000 to murder a local bar owner’s wife who in turn offers him $10,000 to return the favour. Planning to just keep the money and skip town, he finds leaving Red Rock is a lot harder than he thought.

This heavily Quentino Tarantino influenced Film Noir/western hybrid has so many twists and turns, double crosses and double bluffs that by the end you’re not sure you’re coming or going. It’s also a little dated as Lara Flynn Boyle must surely be the worst dressed Femme Fatale in cinema history. On the plus side, it looks quite nice, has a decent soundtrack and is short and efficient enough to not outstay its welcome. Nicolas Cage is doing his put-upon “this can’t be happening to me!” persona rather than the usual bellowed sarcasm which makes him comparatively bearable and J. T. Walsh and Dennis Hopper make a pair of colourful bad guys.

Undemanding yet unpretentious, Red Rock West is very silly but enjoyably so.